To Play the Game
by Aljan Moonfire
Summary: It was now official - the universe was completely FUBAR. My evidence? The Afterlife was a video game. And somehow, I have to find a way to live with it. And survive being thrust headfirst into every world I've ever heard of, without going completely insane.
1. Game Start

**{Prologue}**

So, I died.

It was nothing too dramatic. Your typical drunk diver hitting a pedestrian - me. Just a car accident. Another statistic. Probably not even important enough to make the evening news. And in the end, none of that really matters too much. I'm still dead. As a doornail. Pushing up daisies, going on to the next great adventure (forgive the Harry Potter reference) - whatever spin you want to put on it, that's what I am.

Right now.

Dead.

Me.

...Well, that's just fabulous. Exactly what I wanted for my 21st birthday. Great present, world! Couldn't ask for any thing better, than to die. On my birthday. My 21st birthday.

I mean sure, my life was far from perfect but that hardly meant I was ready to die. I'd barely even gotten started! I mean, seriously, this is just fucked up. Pausing my mental monologue, I take another long look at the body sprawled on the ground before my floating, transparent form.

It was a she, clearly. With short, curly hair I'd just gotten cut an hour or so before - not that it matters now - and a thin, but out of shape, body. The world around me and my former body was entirely frozen, as if time had stopped the moment I breathed my last.

I could just barely see my mother from where I was stuck floating above my body. She was still inside the store, frozen stiff, staring in horrified shock at my body through the clear glass door. A sorrowful feeling rose in my chest as I looked at her frozen form. I knew that as soon as time started up again I would never see her again. I'm...going to miss her. A lot. Her, and my sister, and my dad, and my cats.

God, they'd better take good care of my kitties. And, my god, now I won't be able to read or watch anime, or play video games or anything! Great icing on this horrid death cake there. The afterlife had better have some good alternative options or I'm going...to...sue...

What the hell is that.

Floating before me, directly above my empty body, were two huge, blocky words.

**[GAME OVER]**

Even as I stared at them they slowly faded away and a new series of words took their place.

**[Would you like to return to the MAIN MENU?] **

I stared blankly. What. The hell.

"...Yes?"

I immediately regretted saying anything. The world immediately began to spin wildly around me, blurring rapidly into multicolored streaks that slowly faded into a blank whiteness just as I began to get seriously nauseous and dizzy. It took me a long moment to regain my bearings, and then I looked up to see a list of words hovering before me.

**[MAIN MENU]**

[_New Game_]

[_Help Menu_]

[_Options Menu_]

Okay, now I was certain. The Universe is completely FUBAR. My evidence?

The Afterlife is a _video game_.

**{Start Game}**

**[MAIN MENU]**

[_New Game_]

[_Help Menu_]

[_Options Menu_]

I stared for a long moment at my choices. I'd already had my minor breakdown at the ridiculousness of all this, as well as looked around the [White Room], as I'd taken to calling it, though I found nothing. There wasn't even an apparent end to the place. I'd turn to walk away from the annoying words only to walk right into them a moment or two later, as if I'd never left them.

So, I had three choices on this [Main Menu]. I made the obvious decision and said, "Help Menu."

The [Main Menu] disappeared, and in its place another appeared.

**[HELP MENU]**

[_What's My Status?_]

[_Where Do We Go From Here?_]

[_Warning! Warning!_]

[_Back_]

I deadpanned at the titles but quickly shook it off and said, "Where do we go from here," as clearly as I could. This list disappeared as quickly as the others, but what appeared in its place was not another list, but instead a series of paragraphs with headings. I quickly read the first section before me.

[**THE MULTIVERSE IN A NUTSHELL**]

[_The Multiverse is a series of parallel universes where different choices or events split off into separate universes wherein anything, things only dreamt or imagined and more, are real. Congratulations, Gamer. You will get to experience any and as many as you wish. Have fun._]

I stared, gaping at the words in the fist paragraph. Of course I'd heard of the multiverse theory before, but it was just that, a theory, and not anything I'd ever considered seriously before. I skimmed over it again and a few things caught and held my attention. 'Wherein anything...dreamt or imagined and more, are real...' And I would experience them? What the hell is that supposed to mean? I held back any further questions and read on, quickly finishing the next section as well.

[**WHAT YOU ARE IN A NUTSHELL**]

[_You, at the moment, are simply a consciousness with a voice. When your game continues however, you can become anything. Of course, this all depends on your own choices. Choose wisely._]

That tells me almost nothing. I quickly looked over again for anything significant but found nothing I hadn't already known or was beginning to suspect. I decided though that the last words of advice made a hell of a lot of sense. I'd have to be careful with what I said. My voice was the only thing I could use to control what was happening, and who knows what would happen if I said the wrong thing at the wrong time?

[**NEW GAMES IN A NUTSHELL**]

[_With every new game comes a new universe to explore. A new person to become. A new life to live. But be careful! You only get one chance in every world..._]

So, I'll be...reincarnated or something like it, I assume, and multiple times at that. But if I die in one world, I can never go back to that world again. So no second chances, really. I had begun to hope, from what I'd been reading that maybe I'd be able to go back and relive my life all over again, or something like that. But apparently not. Shaking the depressed feeling off, I quickly glanced over the last section.

[**THERE IS ONLY ONE IN THIS NUTSHELL**]

[_You, are the only one of your kind there is. There are no others. You are unique. You are The Gamer._]

[_Back Again?_]

What the heck is up with thing's obsession with nutshells? Well, regardless, it means I won't have to worry about encountering anyone else with this power, no matter where I go. Below the last, near superfluous, part, a last shimmering window appeared

"Alright then," I said, "[Back Again]"

Upon being returned to the [Help Menu] I quickly scanned the choices once more and said, "[What's My Status?]"

[**Want To Know Your Status?**]

[_In every game you play, you, as The Gamer, can regulate your statistics by saying [Status] at any point in time. Your statistics are organized in this manner:_

_STR: Strength. How strong you are. _

_DEX: Dexterity. How agile and dexterous you are_

_VIT: Vitality. Your endurance, and/or amount of physical energy._

_INT: Intelligence. Your raw intelligence, and/or amount of spiritual energy._

_WIS: Wisdom. Your basic common sense, and ability to make the right choices._

_LUK: Luck. How lucky you are. Effects everything from what you get from monster drops, to your gambling luck._

_With every level you gain, 10 Stat points are collected. Use them wisely!_]

[_Back Again?_]

Okay...so this whole thing is more along the lines of an RPG (Role Playing Game) than anything else. I rubbed my forehead in thought. I'll have to tailor my stats carefully, depending on the kind of world I end up in, so I should probably hold off on doing so until I know more about the world(s) I end up in.

I looked up and carefully checked to make sure I hadn't missed anything and then said, "[Back Again.]"

I ran my eyes down the Help screen's list and paused warily on the third choice before carefully saying, "[Warning! Warning!]"

The words that then faded into view were bright red in color. I quickly began to read once more.

[**Warnings of Dangers Ahead**]

[_The worlds you will first enter as the Gamer, are the ones you are most familiar with. Be careful, for you would not have discovered them, if their elements were not... Interesting. It will only become more dangerous still as the game progresses, and less and less of your knowledge stays valid._]

[_Back Again?_]

That sounds...Ominous. What do they mean by worlds I found interesting...any...way. Wait a minute, does this mean I'll be going into anime and books?! Like a self insert? Oh hell, no. I shuddered as my spinning thoughts came a conclusion. I'm going to be a Mary Sue!

No, anything but that. My resolve strengthened. I will work hard to not become a Mary Sue. My growth shall be logical and reasonable, and I shall just say no to any godlike powers from the get go. I nodded and then said, "[Back Again]," once more. Seeing as there were no further choices on the [Help Menu] I quickly retreated to the main one. Looking it over once more, I quickly selected the [OptIons Menu]

[**OPTIONS MENU**]

[_Background Music_] - [_Yes_] [_No_]

[_Health/Energy Bar Display_] - [_Yes_] [_No_]

[_Mini Map Display_] - [_Yes_] [_No_]

[_Tutorial_] - [_Yes_] [_No_]

Looking the basic options over, I quickly made my decisions and said, "Background Music, [No]; Health/Energy Bar Display, [Yes]; Mini Map Display, [Yes]; Tutorial, [Yes].

The [Yes] and [No] sections of the display either lit up or darkened to near invisibility in response. Nodding my satisfaction, I quickly returned to the main menu once more. I hesitated for a moment, before taking a deep breath and saying, "[New Game]."

Once more, the world spun rapidly around me. A bit more prepared this time around, the disorientation failed to affect me overmuch, though I was still a bit nauseous. Looking up, I saw what seemed to be another list, but this time it seemed nearly endless. At the very top the heading stood out in large caps locked letters.

[**THE WORLDS BEYOND**]

Okay, I'm going to take that to mean that these are the choices of worlds I can go to...

[_Pirate_]

[_Shinobi_]

[_Shinigami_]

[_Mage_]

[_Wizard_]

[_Sky_]

[_Dragon_]

[_Noble_]

[_Night_]

[_Air_]

[_Zero_]

[_Abyss_]

[~~~~~~~~]

[~~~~~~~~]

[~~~~~~~~]

[~~~~~~~~]

[~~~~~~~~]

[~~~~~~~~]

...

I looked at the huge list blankly. For some reason it started at about eye level, but instead of stopping around where it reached my transparent feet, it just kept going. It stretched on for what seemed like miles below where my feet rested. It was practically endless. I gulped - or rather the bodiless equivalent. Would I have to do this until I complete all of them? Would I ever see my family again?

I wallowed in the despairing thoughts for a long moment before shaking myself out of them. Regardless, the only options I have right now are to either stay here in this blank existence for...well, forever, or move forward. I looked at top of the long list again.

Around dozen choices down the choices began to be crossed out. Okay, I guess those are off limits. I looked at the first three again and smirked. If this was based on what was most familiar to me to begin with, then I know what those three are - One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach. Scanning the rest of what I could read, not much else particularly stood out to me. Mage, Wizard, Dragon - those could mean any number of things; I had read countless stories involving any and all of those. The rest just seemed like someone had just picked random words and put them up there on the list.

I sighed.

In that case, I'd better start with one of the first three. Assuming it would be centered around the stories that I had read - and I crossed my figurative fingers that this was true - I'd likely be around the same age as the main character. And in that case...One Piece would give me the most time to prepare out of all of them, as Luffy set off when he was 17. The same could not be said of the others.

Objectively, Bleach's world would be the one with the highest chances to stay completely uninvolved - but I had little faith in my ability to stay out of it. Not only that, but I couldn't see...whatever was causing this...letting me do so either. And if I couldn't stay out of it, then fifteen years - not even, actually - suddenly seemed like far too little time. While I would still have quite a bit of time comparatively, that world also escalated in difficulty very quickly, and with very little time for training as a whole.

Naruto was out of the question until I had more experience under my belt. That world was full of monsters, and monsters that could and would kill on a whim. If things went awry I could be slaughtered before I even hit my teens.

So, One Piece was looking like my best option all together, and even better as I considered it more. While there were some monstrously powerful people in that world, they were relatively few in number compared to the greater population and resided mostly in the latter parts of the Grand Line. And the chances of me being born there were relatively small as well.

All right then, there's my choice. I finally looked up from my silent consideration and said, "Pirate."

Thankfully, the world didn't start spinning again. Instead the list simply vanished, and a single yes or no choice took its place.

[**Main?**] - [_Yes_] [_No_]

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Main Storyline? Main Character? Or was that a plural? It was so vague! And I clearly wouldn't know until I chose, so... I wavered for a long moment as to which I should choose.

Then I said, "Yes"

The choices faded away and another took its place.

[**GAME START?**] - [_Yes_] [_No_]

I took a deep breath and braced myself. Then I declared, "Yes."

And immediately the world once more began to spin rapidly, and instead of blurring into an endless white again, it blurred into its opposite color - a fathomless pitch black. I could feel my conscious leaving me and the spinning sensation continued unabated. But before I gave in, I saw one last message floating before my eyes.

[**Congratulations! World [Poke] unlocked!**]

My last thoughts were rather useless as a result.

And seriously? Poke? What in the world am I supposed to get from that?!


	2. Game Mechanics

{**Pirate I**}

Monkey D. Lucia knew things she shouldn't have since she was very young.

But for quite a long time she didn't realize that randomly remembering things one should have no knowledge of was odd. Being able to read on an advanced level by the time she was three was quite the normal state for her.

This lack of awareness may have been because her grandfather never even seemed to notice her oddness. The boisterous man never seemed to notice much of anything when it came to her - well, besides his ambition for her to become a marine. He would sometimes call her his future marine genius when he absently noticed how articulate she was though.

No one had tried to teach her how to read as of yet. And it wasn't that she'd taught herself either. One day she just looked at a book, and realized she could understand what was written on the spine. And on further investigation, what was written inside as well.

The cheerful child never even gave it a second thought.

But it was one thing for something like that to happen occasionally (said event was quickly followed by similar ones involving writing and other common knowledge skills). It was entirely another for her to one day look up at her gruff, silly, unreasonably violent grandfather and realize that she _knew_ him. Not as the person who had raised her (albeit erratically) for as long as she could remember, but as who - what - he was.

Monkey D. Garp. Marine Vice-Admiral. Garp 'The Fist'. Hero of the Marines. Father of Monkey D. Dragon and grandfather of Monkey D. Luffy.

Except that wasn't entirely right. There was no Luffy.

There was just her.

{**Game Mechanics**}

Lu didn't remember what it all meant until the day after her seventh birthday.

That was the day that she woke to find a strange floating, semi-transparent panel floating over her bed.

[**You Have Slept Well.**]

[**100% Of Health Points & Energy Points Have Been Restored.**]

She blinked slowly and sat up, the panel maintaining a constant distance from her. She scratched a temple in confusion, and then reached out almost instinctively to press the arrow in the corner of the screen lightly. She withdrew said appendage quickly when the floating screen disappeared, only to be replaced by another.

[**Base Memories Ready For Download**]

[_Download?_] - [_Yes_] [_No_]

Impulsively the young girl reached out and poked the large [Yes].

She blinked.

Oh.

Wait, who was she again?

A tall, introverted girl who died on her 21st birthday?

A small, exuberant girl who just turned five?

Something else?

...

Then everything clicked - she was both. She was Lucia and the dead girl. She had grown up with a mother, a father, and a little sister. She was living with her grandfather. She wasn't that dead girl anymore. But she wasn't the girl-child she had been before she'd fallen asleep the night before either. She continued to ponder the contradictory thoughts for a long moment.

Then she shrugged and got out of bed.

It was too early for this.

...

She'd been a morning person yesterday, hadn't she?

Now she wanted to go kill the sun.

Huh.

This was seriously confusing.

As she quickly used the toilet and washed her hands, Lu continued to think on the consequences of what she had just rediscovered despite her earlier resolution to put it off until later. That in and of itself was rather confusing to her, as she had never taken much time to think things through before. In fact, thinking much on consequences as a whole was something she was rather unused to - in this life at least. When she'd been older - and wasn't that a mind trip all on its own - she had had a tendency to think almost too deeply things, which had now likely carried over.

So, back to the Gamer thing - she'd leave the potential consequences of everything that resulted from the memory download for later - what can she do with it? Well, the [Help Menu] had said something about a status screen...

She looked up into the mirror over the small sink and carefully said, "[Status]." Immediately, a new screen appeared before her.

[**Status**]

[_Health Points: 300/300_

_Energy Points: 250/250_

_Level: 3 _

_Experience Points: 42/80_]

[_STR: 4_

_DEX: 4_

_VIT: 4_

_INT: 7_

_WIS: 3_

_LUK: 8_]

[_Stat Points: 0_

_Money: 0_]

Well, that intelligence score would explain why she was suddenly thinking so much. Quickly doing the math in her head, she concluded that the average stats for her level would be around a five. She could only assume that that luck score was pretty high as well if that was the case. And as a result she was a bit below average as far as physical skills went, though she was just a child now...again, mind trip. She was so small! She marveled at her tiny hands before shaking head to get her thoughts back on track.

Shaking the water off her now strangely small hands, the girl continued to think deeply. If the status screen worked then...maybe... She looked up again and dismissed the stat screen before saying, "[Skills]," hesitantly. Lu smiled as this resulted in another screen appearing. This one was a series of boxes that were empty for the most part, likely indicating a lack of skills. There were two windows that each had a colorful picture that seemed to represent each skill, with the name of the skill in a small title box under each window.

The first window had picture of a person concentrating hard with their palms pressed together and an aura of some kind surrounding them. Underneath the icon was the title of the skill - [The Gamer's Mind]. Curious, she poked at it, and a new window appeared over the first. This one lacked any images and just described the skill.

[_The Gamer's Mind_]

[_Lvl. Max_]

[_This skill allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. This enables the user to have a constantly calm and peaceful state of mind. It also grants immunity to all psychological status effects._]

Quickly exiting the window, Lu considered this carefully. So, this was the reason she hadn't freaked out more about this whole insane situation then. She hadn't even realized it until that moment, but she was really dealing with this almost too well, especially considering the circumstances. Shaking her head to rid it of any other thoughts, Lu turned her attention back to the skill screen.

The second picture was of a flexing arm with a slight aura around it. The title of it was [The Gamer's Body]. Still curious, Lu prodded the icon. Once more a new window appeared.

[_The Gamer's Body_]

[_Lvl. Max_]

[_This skill grants a body that allows the user to live the real world as if in a game._]

Lu raised an eyebrow at this, thinking back to when she woke up, and the screen that told that her health and energy points had been completely restored. Maybe this skill had something to do with that? She supposed that was a thought for later though.

There were no other skills listed, and she wondered if she would get more, and how. She pondered that for a long moment before turning her thoughts to her new ability again. Thinking back once more to all of the games she had played in her last life, Lu narrowed her eyes consideringly, biting her lip slightly as she did.

Then she looked forward again and said, "[Inventory]?" experimentally. She immediately smiled again as her intuition led her right, and a new screen appeared.

This one also had a section that seemed to simply be a bunch of empty windows. But next to it was a connecting screen that held a small replica of her current body surrounded by a series of boxes, which contained a picture of the pajamas she was wearing. Murmuring under her breath, the young girl looked at the second window thoughtfully. "If that's my [Inventory]," she muttered, narrowing her eyes at the series of empty boxes, "then this must be some kind of equipment screen, showing what I'm wearing or have equipped."

Returning back to her silent thoughtfulness, Lu wondered at this new facet of her power for a long moment before once more closing the windows. She then proceeded to quickly dry her still damp hands, and exited the bathroom.

"Luuu~chan! Come down and get your breakfast!"

[**A Quest has been created.**]

Lu raised an eyebrow at the screen that popped up in front of her and paused in her short trek down the small hallway of the second floor. She reached out and prodded the small arrow in the bottom corner of the panel. Another screen appeared in the place of the first in response.

[**Easy Quest Alert**]

[**Gramps' Food: Choke it Down!**]

[_The Gamer's Grandfather wants her to come down for breakfast. Go and choke it down, no matter how awful his cooking is._

_Completion Award: _

_Exp 25._

_Gain Poison Resistance Skill._

_Increased closeness with Grandfather._

_Completion Failure:_

_Exp 10._

_Grandfather's 'Fist of Love'._

_Force Feeding._

_Gain Poison Resistance Skill._]

[_Yes_] [_No_]

What, exactly, are they calling easy? Gramps was a horrible cook; she didn't even know why he still tried. Lu carefully weighed her options.

On the one hand, food, even if it does taste awful.

On the other, quite literally, 'The Fist of Love'. And force feeding. It wouldn't be the first time.

The girl sighed and reluctantly made her way down the stairs.

A little over a week later Lu had mostly gotten the hang of how the Gamer thing worked. Though she'd never admit it, at least half of this understanding came from her grandfather's utterly insane training. Having only raised a son before - her new father, who she'd never met, she knew - the man seemed entirely clueless as to what to do with a girl. As a result he just treated her the same way that he would a boy. Which was still utterly insane and stupid, but slightly more understandable as a result.

Now, she knew from the manga that Garp had 'trained' Luffy, but that he did so mostly by throwing him off cliffs and into dangerous forests filled with man-eating animals. She'd guessed that he had taken child rearing lessons from a lion or something in the past. It had been a bit horrifying, but mostly amusing in the manga when Luffy talked about it.

Being the one getting thrown off cliffs was an entirely different experience.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Wahahahahaha! Become stronger, Lu-chan!" The insane man called after her. "I'll be back in a week!"

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh - ooouufff!"

Her landing, slightly broken by a few small trees, completely winded her, and she rolled to a stop in a small clearing with a bounce.

[**Congratulations!**]

[**Mastery of the Physical Endurance Skill has Increased.**]

[_+1.43% Exp._]

[_Physical Endurance (Passive)_

_Increases the body's durability, and causes the user to take less damage from physical attacks._

_Level: 1_

_Exp: 4.56%_]

Lu glared up at the screen that floated a foot above her sprawled form. The [Physical Endurance] skill was the next one to have shown up after the [Poison Resistance] skill that eating Gramps' food had created. She'd accidentally fallen asleep in the middle of the day and Gramps had woken her with a 'Fist of Love' (aka, a weak punch. She had the ominous feeling that as she got older, the punches would only get stronger). It had been quickly followed by the [Run] skill and the [Climb] skill while she had been playing around later that day, indulging the side of herself that was still a five year old child.

It seemed that whenever she repeated an action enough times it was turned into a skill that she could then increase with further repetitions. She still found the [Physical Endurance] skill the most annoying though. The last thing she wanted to see after every time she got hurt was a window congratulating her on it.

She quickly dismissed the window and just laid there for a long moment, getting her breath back, before slowly rising to her feet and looking around warily. As she had seen from the air, all around her were thick, tall trees with plenty of limbs. Quickly examining the ones around her, she soon spotted one nearby that was noticeably lacking in nests of any kind.

Upon climbing it - [**Congratulations!**] [**Mastery of the Climb Skill has Increased.**] - and settling into a relatively safe crook of a tree branch, she turned her attention to another screen, one that had appeared while she was in midair.

[**Minor Quest Alert**]

[**The Restless Forest: I Will Survive!**]

[_The Gamer's Grandfather has abandoned her in the Restless Forest for a week. He will return, but until then, she will have to survive on her own._

_Completion Award:_

_Exp. 300._

_Increased confidence in the Gamer from her Grandfather._

_?_

_Completion Failure:_

_Death_

_Dismemberment_

_Injury]_

[_Yes_] [_No_]

Once again, minor? That was a lot of experience for a so-called minor quest. What was in this forest to make just surviving a week here worth so much? The few quests that she had gotten before this always gave out a reward that was under a hundred experience points. But as there was certainly not much choice to be had, considering her circumstances, the girl pressed [Yes] and began to survey her location once more. After a moment another screen popped up with a near inaudible 'ding!'.

[**A skill has been created through a special act.**]

[**Through continuous observation, a skill to find a target's information, 'Observe', has been created.**]

[_Observe (Passive + Active)_

_Obtained through continuous observation, it enables the user to find the target's information. The higher level the skill, the more data obtained._

_Level: 1_

_Exp: 2.3%_]

Lu blinked at the screen and then quickly waved it away.

Now, that was a much more interesting skill. The others would have been something that she would have used and developed naturally, but this was even more interesting. Now, to test it out...

She glanced around quickly, and soon her eyes fell on a small bird that had just settled on a branch across the clearing from her. "[Observe]," she whispered quietly.

Another glowing panel appeared in her line of sight right next to the bird.

[**Blackbird Level 2**]

[_Health Points: 30_

_Energy Points: 40_

_A small black bird. Small and quick, it is good at dodging and running away._]

Huh, interesting.

Shaking off the thoughts of her new skill, she noticed that the sky was beginning to darken. She'd probably only have a few hours before night fell completely at the most. That meant that within the next few hours she would have to secure some kind of shelter nearby a fresh water source, find something to eat - she was already hungry - and settle in for the night before the nocturnal predators began their nightly prowl.

Right.

Fresh water first then.

It took her quite a while to find a place both safe enough and near enough the water of the small stream that she had eventually located to satisfy her. The tree she found was immensely large, but also clearly near death. The large, slightly rotted hole near the top of the trunk - that was just big enough to fit her small form with a little bit of extra room to spare - was likely to blame for a good part of its condition. But by the time she'd found her hideaway, it was nearly dark and she only had enough time to grab a rough armful of berries and race back to her new tree house before the first roar of some unidentified creature broke the silence of the twilight.

Curious about the limits of her new skill, Lucia turned her attention from the sound of the rather ferocious night life to the berries she had randomly collected. "Observe."

[**Bluwise Berry - Rank: Average**]

[_A small blue berry. Slightly filling when eaten. Not poisonous to humans. Slightly increases regeneration of HP when consumed._]

[**Intered Berry - Rank: Average**]

[_A small red berry. Slightly filling when eaten. Not poisonous to humans. Gives a slight boost to EP when consumed._]

[**Blazius Berry - Rank: Average**]

[_A medium sized orange berry. Not very filling when eaten. Slightly poisonous to humans. Can potentially set mouths afire when consumed._]

[**Playple Berry - Rank: Above Average**]

[_A large dark purple berry, easily confused with the black of blacurt berries. Quite filling when eaten. Not poisonous to humans. Quickly regenerates EP when consumed._]

[**Blacurt Berry - Rank: Above Average**]

[_A large black berry, easily confused with the dark purple of playple berries. Should never be eaten. Very poisonous to humans. Rapidly decreases HP when consumed._]

[**Yeleal Berry - Rank: Above Average**]

[_A large yellow berry. Quite filling when eaten. Not poisonous to humans. Quickly regenerates HP when consumed._]

[**Mastery of the Observe Skill has Increased**]

[_+1.2% Exp_]

Lu sighed in relief and carefully picked out the black and orange berries before throwing them out of her tree. That could have ended badly if it weren't for her new power. So, observe could analyze both living and inanimate targets then. Good to know.

Quickly, the young girl stuffed the remaining berries down her throat. The mixed bag of flavors made it taste a bit odd, but as all the girl cared about was filling her rumbling tummy she didn't mind it at all. And upon finishing her small meal, the girl settled in for a long night.

Her second day in the [Restless Forest] began early in the morning, when she was woken by the sounds of early birds chirping away nearby. After hunting up some more berries, Lu decided that she needed something more meatlike to eat. This was followed by much splashing in the small river, a catch of two small fish three hours after she began, and the development of yet another new skill.

[**A skill has been created through a special act.**]

[**Through continuous attempts, a skill to increase the chances of catching something from the water, 'Fishing', has been created.**]

[_+2.3 Exp._]

[_Fishing (Passive)_

_Obtained through continuous attempts at fishing, it increases the possibility of catching something edible._

_Level: 1_

_Exp: 2.98%_]

She then proceeded to cook them (badly) over a small fire she managed to start by using the small amount of survival knowledge she had learned in her first life - earning her the skills [Pyro] and [Cooking] for starting fires and cooking food, respectively - before exploring her surroundings a bit further. She then followed her exploration with another supper of berries and night spent curled up in her tree.

Over the course of the next week, this small schedule was interrupted three different times by the attacks of wild animals that she somehow managed to fend off with with either the fire she'd managed to keep going and the occasional sloppy kick or punch. Said actions earned her the [Kick], [Punch], and [Power Strike] skills. The [Power Strike] skill had surprised her in a way that the former two hadn't before she looked over the description of the skill and found that it just amounted to adding a bit extra force to every strike when she used it.

The thing that she marked as most important though, was the level up that she had gotten a few days into the week as a result of all of the things that she had to do to survive.

[**Level Up!**]

[_You've Gained 1 Level!_]

When this happened, Lu, eager to see what had changed with the new level, quickly opened her [Status Window].

[**Status**]

[_Health Points:350/350_

_Energy Points:300/300_

_Level: 4_

_Experience Points: 0/160_]

[_STR: 4_

_DEX: 4_

_VIT: 4_

_INT: 7_

_WIS: 3_

_LUK: 8_]

[_Stat Points: 10_

_Money: 0_]

The girl blinked at the screen in surprise and then grinned. She hadn't been expecting that many skill points. Lu then cocked her head and stared more at the screen. Now, how to use them? One for each stat would probably be a good idea, but then she'd still have four left over. She considered it for a long moment before deciding.

[**Status**]

[_Health Points: 350/350_

_Energy Points: 300/300_

_Level: 4_

_Experience Points: 0/160_]

[_STR: 6_

_DEX: 6_

_VIT: 6_

_INT: 8_

_WIS: 5_

_LUK: 9_]

[_Stat Points: 0_

_Money: 0_]

She had decided to bring her Wisdom up another point to even out how low it had been before, and then added another on to each of the physical stats - Strength, Dexterity, and Vitality - in hopes that the increased toughness would make her better prepared to survive the rest of the week she would have to spend here in the forest.

Regardless of this spot of good fortune though, she was still very relieved when the morning of her last day in the forest arrived, and with it her obnoxious grandfather.

[**Quest Completion Alert**]

[**The Restless Forest: I Will Survive!**]

[_The Gamer's Grandfather has abandoned her in the Restless Forest for a week. He will return, but until then, she will have to survive on her own._

_Completion Award:_

_Exp. 300._

_Increased confidence in the Gamer from her Grandfather._

_Instant Dungeon Skill_

_Completion Failure:_

_Death_

_Dismemberment_

_Injury]_

[_+300 Exp._]

[**Level Up!**]

[_You've Gained 1 Level!_]

[**A skill has been created through a special act.**]

[**Through surviving a dungeon area, the skill to create Instant Dungeons, 'ID Create', has been created.**]

[_ID Create (Active)_

_A skill used to create instant dungeons, as mastery rises stronger instant dungeons may be created._

_Level: 1_

_Exp: 1.25%_]

[_Dungeon Dicovered! [The Restless Forest] is Now Available!_]

[_Dungeon Discovered! [The Training Field] is Now Available!_]

While Lu was very excited to finally leave the forest, she was so exhausted by the ordeal that she ended up falling asleep on her grandfather's shoulder on the way home, ignoring all of screens that had popped up, and didn't wake again until well into the next day.

Her grandfather seemed to be giving her a lie in, and she gratefully took advantage of it to first sleep for a few more hours, and then take a look at her stats now that she had leveled again.

[**Status**]

[_Health Points: 400/400_

_Energy Points: 350/350_

_Level: 5_

_Experience Points: 35/320_]

[_STR: 6_

_DEX: 6_

_VIT: 6_

_INT: 8_

_WIS: 5_

_LUK: 9_]

[_Stat Points: 10_

_Money: 0_]

Ok, then she had reached level 5 and had ten more stat points to use...though maybe she should wait on that until she had a better idea of what she would need - which meant planning a few things out.

Lu glanced around her room and got up, headed towards the one place in the house that held paper, pens, and any and all things written down. Her grandfather's office. It was a tiny room, and perpetually messy, but because of Garp's position in the Marines he always had some kind of paperwork waiting for him to do in there. As you might guess, he was always behind with something.

Having spotted Garp downstairs, the girl easily managed to slip in and out of the small room on the corner of the second floor. Quickly tucking the stolen paper and pen down her shirt, the girl jogged out the back door with a quick wave goodbye to Garp on her way out. He didn't seem at all surprised to see her up and about so soon after her ordeal. Maybe the people of this world just generally recovered faster than in her old one?

Another thought for later, she supposed.

Lu and Garp lived together in a small two story house on the edge of Foosha Village, which was a small enough place that it only had one real street. The villagers just called that one street the 'Main', and it connected the small port of the tiny town to the road that lead deeper into Dawn Island before splitting off in different directions.

They had lived there all of Lu's life, and she quickly realized that if she decided to follow the direction that the story she knew would take, she would live here for another decade more.

After Lu left the house, she dashed down the Main towards the port. She loved being by the sea, and she had a special spot not far from the marina where she could watch the ships come in and out. It was a large tree, planted high on the cliff face to the right side of the port when facing the water. Lu considered it to be the perfect climbing tree, and it was in fact when climbing this tree that she earned herself the [Climb] skill a little over a week ago.

Retracing her steps up the small trail she had worn into the hillside over the past year since she had found the tree, Lu dashed towards it before taking a practiced jump up to grab a lower branch to haul herself up upon. After checking that she still had both pen and papers with her, the girl proceeded to climb the tree further, ignoring the small pop ups that alerted her to a further experience gain in her climbing abilities.

On reaching a wide, sturdy branch near the top that she knew could easily hold her weight, Lu turned to sit with her back to the trunk, facing the magnificent view that the short edge of the cliff afforded her of the ocean. It was just nearing the end of spring, and the temperature and weather were perfect for a day outside. She took a few moments to take in the sight and scent of the sea with a newfound appreciation for the sheer feeling of freedom it gave her, especially after being trapped in that forest for so long.

Now, first things first, she had one last thing to test about her powers that had slipped her mind over that frantic week in [The Restless Forest].

Removing the pen from her shirt, Lu looked up and said, "[Inventory]," quietly. The [Inventory] window appeared before her silently, and she examined the multitude of empty boxes a bit anxiously before carefully raising the pen to poke at the first box. Immediately the screen rippled around the end of the pen, and seemed to engulf it in thin air. She quickly withdrew the pen in shock at the sight before immediately becoming fascinated by the phenomenon.

"Is it some kind of pocket dimension?" She muttered to herself, poking at the screen some more. Remembering how Luffy reacted to anything strange or weird in the manga, she grinned to herself and said, "It's a mystery [Inventory]! So cooool!" Indulging in her inner - or rather, outer - child, Lu proceeded to place the pen in the [Inventory] and the withdraw it again immediately several times, just for kicks.

Still grinning, the girl eventually ceased playing around and turned to the second reason she'd brought pen and paper up here with her. Her face becoming more serious, she shifted so one leg was hung over each side of the tree limb and laid the small sheaf of papers down on the bark between them. She really would prefer a table or something, but this wasn't something she wanted anyone catching a glimpse of.

The writing was messy by consequence, but she still wrote down her list with only a small wrinkle of her nose in displeasure at the awkward penmanship. The first things she made a short hand list of were her memories of the timeline of the manga. What she could remember about what she read ended around the time of Ace's death, as she hadn't read much beyond the time skip before loosing track of the manga in favor of other things.

So, from the flashback arcs on...

_Luffy and Shanks meet_

_Shanks loses his arm_

_Shanks gives Luffy his hat_

_Garp returns and takes Luffy to the M.B._

_Meets Ace_

_Follows Ace and eventually meets Sabo_

_Bluejamb thing happens_

_They swear each other as brothers_

_Sabo's family shows up_

_Tenryubito comes_

_Fire set in the Grey Terminal_

_Sabo 'dies'_

_Ace and Luffy train to become stronger _

_Ace leaves on his journey_

_Luffy leaves on his journey_

_..._

Steadily, Lu continued to write until she had filled three and a half pages with the main events between Shanks arrival and Ace's death at Marineford. Frowning at the words she'd just scribbled down, she decided that that would be one of the things she would change if she could. Ace would not die if she had anything to say about it.

Glancing through the rest of her list she tilted her head and wondered how in the world the original Luffy had managed to live through even half of this. Scowling - though it looked more like a pout on her tiny face - she made her resolve right then and there. The only way she, her future crew, and her future brother would survive the next few decades would be if she got stronger, strong enough to protect any of them from anything. And she'd start by pushing this gamer ability to its limits.

But first things first - she knew a possible future, but she had to protect that knowledge from everyone. She knew what could happen to those who claimed to be able to predict the future; they were either completely ignored, or completely exploited. She first quickly stuffed her list and the pen into her [Inventory] and then leaned back again against the tree trunk. How should she go about this? She had a few different options from what she could see, but the best solution may be to just combine all of them.

Option 1: She could act as oblivious and exuberant as the original Luffy, and mask any future slips with a mask of sheer dense-ness.

Option 2: She could make herself seem as intelligent as possible to pass any future knowledge off as pure deduction.

Option 3: Just pass things off as hunches.

Option 4: Anything else that she can't think of right now, but come up with later.

The simplest solutions were usually the best, with the added plus of being easier to remember. But how to combine density with insight? Well, with that one she'll probably just have to wing it and hope for the best. Jokes about being psychic occasionally could probably deflect any other attention, she hoped. Sighing, Lu banged her head back against the tree a couple of times. This was a really shaky plan. Hopefully it would work though.

Hopefully, because she couldn't think of anything better.


	3. The Devil Fruit

{**Pirate II**}

It was one month, two more 'training sessions' in [The Restless Forest], and another level later that Garp left the island on Marine business that he said would keep him away for an undetermined amount of time, but not less than a year. He left an apprehensive Lu behind in the care of Woop Slap, the mayor of Foosha Village, and Makino, a kind young woman who ran the only bar in town.

The day before he left, the old Marine helped Lu bring her stuff to the small room above the bar that she would live in for the next couple of months. He then left to bring his own things out to the large Marine battleship anchored off the coast. He had already said his goodbyes to her and would leave before sunrise the next morning.

"Lu-chan, can you come help me out downstairs?"

Lu turned from where she stood at her new room's window, watching as the back of her grandfather grew ever smaller in the distance, to glance back at Makino. The young woman stood smiling in the doorway of the small bedroom, sympathy glimmering in her eyes. Lu blinked, confused, in response before realizing that the bartender was trying to distract her from thoughts of her grandfather leaving her behind.

The small girl grinned widely in response and bounced over to the woman, "Sure!"

As they left the room, and its window, behind, Lu chattered cheerfully up at her fellow brunette. "What do you need help with? Are you hauling things around? Or serving customers? What do you serve people? Is it beer? Or rum? Sake? Can I try some?!"

"No, no, you're too young for that," Makino laughed. "I have some juice downstairs if want some though."

"Sweet!" The girl ran forward down the steps a bit before turning back and asking, "What kind of juice?" In a comically serious voice.

Pausing because the child before her had, Makino's mouth twitched slightly at the too serious expression on the young girl's face. "Orange, Grape, and Apple." She replied promptly though.

"Hmmmmm..." Lu considered, seemingly seriously, before brightening and triumphantly declaring, "I shall take the apple!" and returned to bouncing back down the stairs, two at a time.

This time unable to cover her laughter, Makino called after her mirthfully, but with a touch of concern in her tone, "I'll get you it in a moment! Be careful on the stairs though, Lu-chan, you don't want to fall and hurt yourself!"

"I'm fine," was the faint response, the child having already hopped off the steps and bounded into the currently empty room of the main bar downstairs.

Lu's face, now unobserved by anyone else, had taken on a more honestly serious cast, though her voice remained cheerful and bubbly. Quietly, so she could barely even hear herself, she repeated herself, as firmly as she could, "I'm fine."

{**The Devil Fruit**}

The next few weeks seemed to crawl by as Lucia's apprehension continued to get to her, making her more restless than ever. As one day, and then another came without a sign of pirate flags on the horizon her worries continued to build. What if she'd already done something to change the timeline, and Shanks would miss the opening while Garp was gone? Or even worse, if this wasn't the world she knew from before and he never came at all? What would she do?

As these worries grew ever more pronounced in the back of her head, Lu did her best to distract herself with training and the accumulation of new skills. The [ID Create] skill that she had earned during her first week in [The Restless Forest] came in very handy in this, though it took her a while to figure out all of the quirks of the new skill.

[ID Create] would materialize a sealed off pocket dimension that completely separated her from the outside world. She could do anything in there and come out and though time would have passed, the world was completely unaffected by whatever she had done. To test this she returned to the house she had lived in with Garp (as it was the only empty house in the town) and broke a window while inside the [Instant Dungeon] and when she left it, the window was perfectly intact, as though she'd never even touched it.

The biggest problem she'd had with the [Instant Dungeons] was not in creating them, but actually in leaving them. It took her an embarrassingly long time to arrive on the right command - "[ID Escape]!" - and to leave her first dungeon, nearly making her late for the dinner Makino had made that night.

So far she had found that she had three kinds of [Instant Dungeons] that she could create. The [Empty Dungeon] always took on the same appearance as her current surroundings, and seemed to have no other effect than isolating her from the rest of the world. [The Training Field] was just that - it changed the world around her into a clear, endless field. It had the added bonus of increasing her experience gain by .5% when she trained within it too. She had a decent idea of what [The Restless Forest] would be like, but had yet to try it, having already been traumatized enough by being abandoned in it multiple times.

As far as her other skills went, she had leveled all of her combat skills - including the still annoying [Physical Resistance] skill, and the [Poison Resistance] that had come with eating Garp's food - by a few different levels since she had earned them that first week in the forest, and more had shown up in the time since. [Punch] and [Kick] were joined by [Barehanded Mastery], which just seemed to increase all of her physical parameters passively when she fought without weapons.

On the non-combat side of things she'd managed to level [Observe] significantly by using it on almost everything she came across. Two things seemed to come of her steadily increasing level in that particular skill. She could now see everyone's basic information - name, level, and title, if they had one - floating over their heads automatically. It made it absurdly easy to keep peoples' names straight, despite her horrible memory for faces. In addition, the more she leveled the skill, the more information she got out of it. Her survival skills ([Fishing], [Pyro], etc.) had increased in level through necessity during her most recent involuntary trips to the forest, and her [Run] and [Climb] skills had also increased apace. [Cooking] was still a dead end as far as she was concerned though, because despite increasing her skill in it, the most she could do was either mash berries or burn fish - neither of which were particularly appealing when she had a choice.

After her minor planning session (the notes of which still languished in her [Inventory]) she had decided to wait until her next level to use her stat points. When she had finally leveled up nearly a month ago, she had finally made her decisions as far her points went. She had come to the conclusion that any major increase in her physical abilities before she either grew older or ate a devil fruit - whichever came first - would likely bring attention to her in a very negative way. So, she had placed a couple of points each in Strength, Dexterity, and Vitality, before placing the majority of the remainder in the others, leaving a couple unused just in case something unforeseen happens.

And so, when Lu took a last glance at her [Status] following a training session three weeks after her grandfather left Dawn Island, they looked like this:

[**Status**]

[_Health Points: 450/450_

_Energy Points: 400/400_

_Level: 6_

_Experience Points: 284/640_]

[_STR: 8_

_DEX: 8_

_VIT: 8_

_INT: 12_

_WIS: 9_

_LUK: 13_]

[_Stat Points: 2_

_Money: 0_]

"Damn." The girl swore before sighing, "It's taking longer and longer to level up, especially when the only things I can do are either train or help Makino out, and she doesn't let me do too much."

Frustrated even more by her lack of progress, Lu kicked the ground of her [Training Field] before raising a hand and saying, "[ID Escape]," clearly.

The world around her warped for a minute, before she found herself once more upon the cliff next to her tree. Turning, she grazed hopeful eyes across the sea and her face fell slightly when nothing unusual caught her eye. Then she doubletaked and, eyes widening, a grin spread across her face before she turned and dashed away from the cliff and towards the town.

Behind her, a black flag fluttered in a distant wind above a large ship, a graphic skull painted large upon it. Behind it were two crossed swords, and three distinctive scars crossed over it's left eye socket.

Lu slowed down to a trot as she reached the outskirts of the small village, but excitement and nervousness still glinted in her eyes. Her grin grew back on her face, only to be masked by a curious expression as she approached the small crowd that had gathered around the harbor area. Squeezing through the crowd, she was so focused on what awaited her beyond the wall of people that she ended up tripping on someone's foot as she neared the other edge of the crowd.

"Uuwah!"

The girl grunted as she hit the clear ground harshly, and a hiss escaped her mouth as she tried to raise herself back up and discovered several scrapes and bruises. Thanks to her Gamer's body, she could feel them vanish as well within seconds. She also felt the involuntary tears threaten to escape the corners of her eyes and cursed her young body. Suddenly, she noticed a pair of feet before her, and as she looked up she was met with the sight of the man who owned them going down on one knee before her.

Before she could do more than feel her eyes widen at the sight of the wide brimmed straw hat on his head, the man spoke, "Are you alright, kid?"

"A-ah," Lu stuttered slightly before sitting up more straight and wiping away any trace of the tears, "I'm fine." She swallowed harshly, and then winced inwardly - she probably just sounded like a kid trying to be tough. Then she thought again - maybe that was a good thing?

Nevertheless, she was quick to turn the conversation off of herself and onto the man. Blinking at him, almost squinting to try and make out his features from where they were hidden by the straw hat, she asked, "Who are you, mister?"

He laughed and tilted his hat back when he figured out why she was making such an odd expression, "I'm Shanks, and you?" He held out a hand to her as the wide grin showed bright against his tanned skin and stretched the scars of his left eye.

She bit her lip and hesitated almost imperceptibly before taking it, "You can call me Lu!" She smiled back at him as he helped to her to her feet, standing to his full hight himself as she did.

"Lu, huh?" He said, and seemed to be about to say something else when he was interrupted by someone else calling out her name.

"Lu-chan!" It was Makino, pushing her own way through the crowd towards them, "Lu-chan, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Makino."

"Where have you been?" The woman talked over her reassurance and quickly began to fussing over her scuffed up appearance.

"I was up at the cliff, and then I saw a pirate flag!" Lu exclaimed, eyes brightening with excitement. "It was on this cool big ship and the skull even had scars across the side of it, like this old mister here!" Lu babbled on, seemingly oblivious as Makino grew ever more concerned, and Shanks winced and hung his head, mouthing 'old mister' to himself like it was the worst thing anyone had ever called him. "Why can't Marine flags look that cool? They're all the same no matter what, and that seems really boring-"

"Lu-chan," Makino interrupted gently, a smile growing across her face, "You know your grandfather would be very upset if he heard you say that."

Lu froze at the reminder of her grandfather, almost as if she half expected him to suddenly appear and give her a 'Fist of Love' as punishment, before shaking it off and putting on a stubborn face. "Well it's true anyway, and its not like Gramps is even here to hear it," the small girl said mulishly.

"Oh, Lu-chan," the woman said sympatheticly, before Shanks gave a light cough.

"If I may interrupt," Shanks smiled down at the girl, "I'm quite glad you like my flag, Lu."

Lu let her eyes grow big as she stared up at the man, "Are you a pirate, mister?"

He gave a short laugh, "Yeah, I am," before sighing, "and please don't call me 'mister' again," he winced. "I'm just Shanks."

Makino obviously recognized the name, but before she could say anything they were once again interrupted, this time by a long haired man with a cigarette butt hanging from his mouth.

"Captain," he said, slouching forward, "weren't we gonna go get a drink?"

"Yeah, we were weren't we, Benn?" The straw hatted man laughed sheepishly.

Makino examined the pirates for a moment before smiling, "Well, my bar's the only one in town." She said. "We can show you the way if you like?"

"Really? That'd be awesome!" Shanks grinned again. "Benn!" He cried, as if the man weren't still standing right next to him, "Go get the rest of the crew! We're celebrating today!"

Lu tugged on Shanks' shirt, catching his attention again, "What are you celebrating?"

"Making a new friend of course - that is, if you want to be friends?" He smiled softer at the child.

Lu made a show of thinking for a moment before nodding. "Sure!"

Over the next year Lucia and Shanks became thick as thieves - or pirates in this case. At first Lu's interactions with Shanks felt slightly awkward to her, and she often felt as though she was taking Luffy's place in this world and that she didn't deserve to have Shanks' friendship - but then her Gamer's Mind would calm her down. Once she was able to think more clearly, she realized that whatever may have happened in another world, in this one Luffy didn't exist, and never had. She might have the opportunities to make some similar decisions, or be put in similar situations, but in the end this would be her life, not his.

Once she came to this conclusion, Lu relaxed at lot more and let her childish side out without restraint. Though she still hid most of her intelligence, it was less because she was forcing herself into what she remembered of Luffy's personality and more because she knew that if she showed too much of how intelligent she was too early it could be viewed as unnatural.

Shanks left for a few weeks every once in awhile but always came back, having long since declared the village to be their main base, and with more fantastic stories each time. Despite herself, Lu found herself more and more entranced by the pirate's tales, until she eventually began to beg for Shanks to take her with him when he left on a voyage. He of course refused, knowing it would be far too dangerous for such a small child, and Lu reluctantly capitulated, knowing he was right.

Still, whenever Shanks left she was there to wave him goodbye, and until he returned she would keep a watch from her cliff for his flag upon the horizon. Despite herself, she soon realized that she was growing a fierce crush on the scarred man, and found yet another reason to curse her immature body. Maybe if she was the twenty-one year old she'd once been, she could have had a chance with the unconsciously charming red-head. She knew it wasn't possible though, and soon resigned herself to having a one-sided crush.

As things came closer and closer the future she remembered though, she began to think desperately on how she could prevent her friend from losing an arm in order to save her. She began to train even more furiously than ever when the man was gone to become stronger and stronger. Maybe if she could beat those mountain bandits right off the bat, he wouldn't even need to get near the Sea King that took his left arm. It was the only thing she could think of, because she couldn't see herself not confronting them - though perhaps not as recklessly as Luffy once did.

As a result of this resolve, she finally brought herself to use her [Restless Forest] instant dungeon for training. In the fake forest, she was consistently attacked by wild animals, and often they were freakishly large in size also. Still, she somehow managed to survive and eventually earn another three levels through this reckless method of training.

[**Status**]

[_Health Points: 600/600_

_Energy Points: 550/550_

_Level: 9_

_Experience Points: 40/1280_]

[_STR: 8_

_DEX: 8_

_VIT: 8_

_INT: 12_

_WIS: 9_

_LUK: 13_]

[_Stat Points: 32_

_Money: 0_]

This time she carefully considered, before deciding to wait to use any of the points she'd earned until after she ate the devil fruit Shanks would find. Or rather, that she hoped he would find. There was no guarantee he would even discover it, but it would be much easier to pass off any increase in strength as a side effect of a devil fruit than trying to explain her weird power to someone. She wasn't even sure if they had RPGs in this world! Well, on second thought, they probably didn't. Although she should probably think of a way to explain it to someone soon - she had no intention of hiding it from her crew when she was older. She was still debating the pros and cons of telling Ace when she met him though.

She sighed and looked out across the sea from her spot up in her tree. Shanks had already been gone for two weeks this time. He should be back soon. She couldn't say she was really worried about him - she knew how strong the man was - but when his trips dragged on she often worried about him ever coming back. She knew how dangerous it would be for her to go with him, but she still didn't like the idea of being left behind. It seemed to be something that was starting to form a pattern in her mind. She had never even met her parents in this life, then Garp left her behind, and now Shanks would leave her too.

She sighed again and shook off the depressing thoughts. The girl then looked up and said, "[Inventory]." The screen appeared before her and she reached up to slide the windows over until she found what she was looking for. Reaching into the storage space, she pulled out the knife and looked at it contemplativly. If she was guessing right, it was now getting close to the time that Luffy had given himself that scar beneath his left eye.

She sighed again and then shoved the knife back into the [Inventory]. There was no way she was doing something that stupid. Maybe she'd get a tattoo in the same spot when she was older or something, but she wasn't going to be stabbing herself in the face anytime soon.

Catching sight of something on the horizon, Lu squinted at it but couldn't get a good enough view. She then looked down, braced her feet beneath her on the branch, and stood, raising her hand to shield her eyes from the bright sun as she peered again from the higher perspective. A smile grew on her face as she watched the spot on the horizon grow bigger. Eventually it grew enough that she could she the black flag hanging from the top of the mast.

He was back!

"Let's drink up and celebrate!"

"To our greatness!"

"To adventure!"

"Gahahahaha! Drink! Drink!"

"Sake! Bring out more sake!"

"You need more already? Slow down and savor it!"

"Hey! That's my meat, idiot!"

"Shut up! It's mine!"

"Hand it over!"

"Stop it with the drunken brawling already!"

Three hours later found Lucia, Shanks, and his crew crowded into Makino's bar, with the majority of the latter well on their way to getting quite drunk. Lu found their antics completely hilarious, and was smiling to herself over a glass of apple juice. Beside her Shanks had nowhere near the same restraint and was laughing his head off as two members of the crew argued drunkenly over a piece of meat that Lucky Roo, another member, had already eaten.

"Ne, Shanks, can I come with you next time?" Lu asked, as she always did, when the captain finally subsided into chuckles.

"No way!" The man laughed again, "You're still too young, kid," he reached out and ruffled her short hair as a smirk grew on his face, "besides, I know you still can't swim - and being an anchor is a weakness a pirate can't afford."

"I'll be fine as long as I stay on board!" The girl protested. The [Swim] skill was something that she just couldn't seem to get no matter how hard she tried. Her body just wouldn't cooperate for some reason. It was frustrating, but Luffy had managed without being able to swim and so could she. "Besides, I can fight pretty well too!" She added on.

"Reeally..." The man propped his head up with a hand and replied dully, a teasing glint in his eye.

Lu played along and shouted at him, "And what kind of reaction is that supposed to be!"

A small conga-line of pirates danced by. As they did, they caught sight of her upset face and called out to her, "Lu! You seem unhappy!"

"You've got to be happy if you wanna face what's out there!"

"Yeah! A pirates life is hard, but it's great too!"

"The sea is wide and deep, with a new adventure on every island!"

"Nothing is greater than that kind of freedom!"

"Quit it with the encouragement, guys." Even as Lu's eyes began to sparkle at the thought of it, Shanks shot it all down, voice slightly muffled by the food in his mouth.

"But it's the truth, right?" Lucky Roo commented.

"Right!" They all cheered.

"Captain, why don't you take him with us one time, it's not that big a deal." Another man said, and it was followed by murmurs of agreement.

Shanks had already turned back to his food "Ok, then next time one of you get off the ship and let him take your place."

"I think we've said enough! Let's get back to drinking!"

"Yeah!" They all turned away from the conversation, quick as anything.

"What kind of friends are you!" Lu half growled playfully, before finishing off her juice and wandering away.

"Lu-chan," Benn caught her attention and waved her over as she meandered through the crowd of rambunctious pirates. Benn Beckmann was Shanks' first mate and often seemed to be the only voice of reason on the crew. He also seemed to be the only one that realized that she was a girl. "Lu, try to understand the captain's feelings."

Lu looked up at him, surprised. "Oh, I understand - I'm just too young yet." She replied.

Slightly surprised, he raised an eyebrow and continued, "Then you know that while a pirate's life can be interesting, it is also hard and dangerous. He isn't making fun of your ambitions to be a pirate; he's our leader, and if he can't protect you, or you can't protect yourself, he won't take you along."

"I get that," Lu deadpanned, "but Shanks just seems to like taking me for an idiot."

Shanks snorted behind her, laughter coloring his tone once again, "Can't swim!" He sniggered.

"See!" She pointed at the laughing redhead.

"Captain-san, you seem happy today, as always!" Makino popped out of the back, hauling a new barrel of alcohol with her.

"Yep, making fun of this kid is my only joy!"

Lu kept pointing.

"Well, he does seem happy..." Benn finally trailed off, at a loss over his captain's antics, and returned to puffing on his cigarette.

"Lu-chan, are you ready to eat?" Makino chuckled.

"You bet!" The girl cheered.

Lu immediately dug in, joining Shanks in silence for a time as they both ate.

"Shanks?" The girl eventually asked quietly.

"What is it?"

"How long are you gonna stay here?"

Shanks looked up, a more serious expression on his face at this question. "Well, it's been almost a year since we started using this town as a base..." He seemed to ponder his answer of a moment more before continuing, "I'm planning on only a couple more trips before we start heading further north."

"Oh." This all sounded very familiar - was it that day already? She nearly began to panic, before her [Gamer's Mind] forcibly calmed her down. If things went as she had read a lifetime ago, nothing too bad would happen today. She deliberately turned her thoughts away from the events that were to come, and responded to Shanks' answer. "Well, then I'll just have to learn how to swim before then." She declared.

"Alright then, I'll look forward to it!" The man returned cheerfully, "Goodluck!"

Lu had already looked away by then, trying to suppress the tears gathering in her eyes. She didn't want him to go, but she knew he would regardless. As she turned, a bright light that nobody else seemed to notice caught her eye. Following it, she came to a small chest left abandoned on a side table. Above it, a glowing screen hovered.

[**Mysterious Chest**]

The words didn't give much of a hint as to what was in the container, but Lu already knew what it was.

A Devil Fruit.

No. Her Devil Fruit.

Slowly, she opened the chest and was greeted by an almost blinding light that soon faded away to reveal a circularly shaped purple fruit, with darker purple spirals etched all over it and a strangely curled stem. Lu recognized it immediately. She quickly used [Observe] on it anyway.

[**Gomu Gomu no Mi**]

[_The Rubber Fruit_]

[_When eaten, this fruit turns the user's body into rubber. Stretchy and bouncy, the user's body will resist all kinetic force or blunt physical attacks._]

[_+ 5 STR_

_+ 5 DEX_

_+ 5 VIT_

_- 2 WIS_]

Tough decision - not! She'd already spent months debating the pros and cons of this choice. She was going to eat it. And she did. Quickly biting into the odd fruit, she was immediately struck by just how disgusting it tasted. Swallowing the first bite quickly, she was interrupted by the harsh sound of the door slamming open with a clatter. The bar-room immediately went dead silent, and everyone turned to look at the tall, scruffy man standing in the door.

Unlike the others, Lu's eyes went to the words only she could see hanging over the man's head.

[**Higuma**]

[_Mountain Bandit Leader - Lvl. 7_]

She almost snorted in derision. This man was lower in level than her let alone Shanks who, like her Gramps, was so high in level that she couldn't even see the number. She managed to suppress it though, not wanting to draw attention to herself or the fruit she was still eating. She took another bite as the foolish man began to talk.

"Heh~ So this is what pirates look like, huh?" He snorted as he arrogantly scanned the room. "It's the first time I've ever seen a pirate, but they all look pretty dumb to me." He declared.

Lu deadpaned. 'Well, you look pretty dumb to me.' She thought sarcastically.

He casually strolled up to he counter, a dozen or so people following behind him. "We are bandits," he sneered, leering at Makino. "We're not here to cause trouble though," he said, "we just want to buy a dozen barrels of sake."

"I-I'm very sorry," Makino stuttered, starting to sweat, "But we are out of sake."

"Oh~ How strange. What are they all drinking then? Water?" He asked mockingly.

"No, it's sake, but that's all we have." The bartender answered.

"Ah, I'm sorry," Shanks interjected, drawing the bandit's attention from the young woman to himself. "Looks like we must have drank all the sake here!" He smiled, seemingly oblivious as the other man's eyes narrowed. "Here, this must be the last bottle; you can have it."

Shanks handed the glass bottle over to Higuma. Even though Lu knew it would happen, she still winced as the bandit immediately took it with a false smile before smashing the bottle into the side of Shanks' head. Makino gasped, covering her mouth as if to hold in the noise. Shanks wasn't budged an inch by the force of the blow, but his hat, clothes, and the floor around him were covered in sake and shards of glass.

"Just who do you think I am, huh?" Higuma snarled, not even seeming to notice how little Shanks had reacted. "Don't take me so friggin' lightly - one bottle isn't enough!"

"Ahhh~ Now the floor's all wet," Shanks mourned.

Lu turned away as Shanks spoke, now certain that things were going as she remembered, and quickly finished the fruit while Higuma showed off his 8,000,000 belli bounty to a man with one that was probably thirty times that amount at the least, broke another few glasses of alcohol, and insulted the pirates he was surrounded by some more before leaving, seemingly mute lackeys trailing behind.

Makino immediately rushed to the captain's side as the bandits left, "Are you alright, Captain-san? Are you injured?" She hovered over him, fussing in much the same way that she sometimes did over Lu when she came home injured from her training.

"No, I'm fine," he waved her off and chuckled slightly.

As if his response had given them permission, his crew began to laugh too, commenting on how silly the redhead looked covered in glass and sake. Lu sighed at their antics and went over to help Makino begin to clean up the glass.

"Next time, just punch him out, Shanks." The girl said dryly as she crouched beside him.

"It was just a bottle of sake though." He replied cluelessly.

"One that you hadn't paid for yet." Lu said.

He raised a finger as if to protest before pausing. "Ah. You're right." He then turned his eyes on Makino, "Sorry about that."

Finished picking up the worst of the glass now, the girl rose to carefully place the shards in the trash, before turning to leave. Shanks caught her arm and began to speaking before cutting himself off, "Leaving already, Lu-"

"Well, yeah. This entire room stinks of alcohol now, and I -" Lu stopped herself mid sentence as well, and for much the same reason that Shanks was gapping at her now. "Huh?"

It was the oddest feeling in the world - she could actually feel herself stretching. It wasn't painful, just really strange, like using a muscle you didn't realize you had before. Her wrist, still caught in the grip of Shanks' hand was now halfway across the room from the rest of her body. "Whoa..."

The entire population of the bar was gaping too as Shanks finally found his voice again. "His arm...is stretching...?" He almost stuttered.

"WHAT?!"

"No way!"

"That's-"

"IT'S GONE!" Lucky Roo's voice thundered over the shouts of the rest of the crew. "Captain, it's completely gone! The fruit we took from the enemy is gone!"

"What?!" The entire room continued to gape, and then suddenly Lucky Roo was in front of her, a pad of paper with a picture of the fruit she had just eaten drawn on it in hand.

"Lu, did you eat this...?!"

"Uh...yeah?" She played clueless, "It was desert wasn't it? Though, it didn't taste very good."

Shanks released her arm at last and she watched as it snapped back into place with fascination. Then the captain had her by the shoulders, face very serious, "Lu, that was the Gomu Gomu no Mi - a fruit of the devil, and one of the rarest treasures in the world! Whoever eats it will become a rubberman and will never be able to swim again! What were you thinking, you idiot!"

"Oh." The small girl scratched her head. "Is that a bad thing?"

Taken aback by her nonchalance, the crew simmered down and Shanks finally released his grip on her shoulders. "Well, not nessecarily..." He managed to say, "There are plenty of people who have eaten them and been fine, but..."

"Then what's the problem?" She asked, now confused by the overreaction.

"Well," he hesitated, confused by her sheer lack of reaction, "As long as you aren't upset, I suppose it's fine..." But why wasn't she upset by it, was the unstated question.

"Well, it's not like I could swim to begin with, and being a rubber person sounds really cool." She replied and tried stretching her cheeks in the way she could remember Luffy doing in the manga. "Shheee! Ishn't iht neeeaht!" She then released them and let her cheeks snap back into place.

There was a moment of silence, and them a crewmember chimed in, "That was pretty interesting, Captain."

"Yeah."

"Never seen a rubberman, er, kid before."

"Wonder if everything stretches like that - Ouch!"

"Don't say such inappropriate things about a kid then!"

The rest of the crew quickly chimed in as Shanks began to relax. As they grew noisier around them, the man leaned forward again to rest a hand in Lu's messy hair. "You sure you're okay then, kid?"

Lu flushed at the soft tone of voice, but nodded and said, "Yeah!" firmly.

"Alright then," he called out, swinging the girl up onto a shoulder in one swift movement. "Let's celebrate then!" He snatched up a half empty glass of rum with his free hand and raised it up. "To Lu's new power!"

"To Lu's new power!" They all cheered.

Lu laughed as Shanks spun around a few times before setting her back on the ground. And Lu just laughed more as all around them the pirates started partying again as if there had never been an interruption in the first place.

Of course, that wasn't the end of it. The mayor and Makino both worried over her even more after all was said and done, though of course they showed it in different ways. Woop Slap scolded her repeatedly for being so careless, and Makino began to keep a closer eye than ever on her, which made it ever harder to find time to train alone. Unlike the other adults of her acquaintance, instead of worrying over her more, Shanks instead seemed to worry less - though he'd never been very obvious with his worry over her to begin with - and she found herself grateful for that.

Fortunately, despite the lessened training time, she had still had over thirty status point to use from earlier levels, and so her stats were most definitely higher than Higuma's in all respects. When she went to look at her stats that first night after eating the fruit, the expected initial increase in her stats from just eating the fruit was waiting alongside a new addition to her main [Status] screen.

[**Status**]

[_Health Points: 600/600_

_Energy Points: 550/550_

_Level: 9_

_Experience Points: 60/1280_]

[_STR: 13_

_DEX: 13_

_VIT: 13_

_INT: 12_

_WIS: 7_

_LUK: 13_]

[_Stat Points: 32_

_Money: 0]_

[**Permanent Status Effects**]

[_Rubberman_]

[_Anchor_]

After thinking on it for a moment, she could guess what the [Status Effects] meant, but she then proceeded tap them to see any further details anyway.

[**Rubberman**]

[_Strechy, bouncy, immune to blunt physical attacks, kinetic energy, and all electricity - your body is made of rubber._]

[**Anchor**]

[_Man overboard! Forget about ever swimming again, because the energy of the sea is now your greatest enemy._]

As expected then - she could say a swift goodbye to the prospect of ever learning to swim, and she had a rubber body. Yay, but she'd already known that. The important part was that they were marked as permanent, which made her worry a bit about whether she would still have those effects in her next 'life' as well. But she can put off worrying about that for a long, long while.

Now, what to do with her stats?

Well, she had long since planned to boost her Strength, Dexterity, and Vitality by quite a bit once she ate the fruit, and she had enough to easily push them each above 20 with a decent amount of points left over. And she wanted to keep her Luck and Intelligence stats fairly high as well...

As for Wisdom, it seemed like the world was conspiring to keep that stat as low as possible, but she could spare a couple of points to put it back to where it was before she ate the fruit at the very least.

[**Status**]

[_Health Points: 600/600_

_Energy Points: 550/550_

_Level: 9_

_Experience Points: 99/1280_]

[_STR: 21_

_DEX: 21_

_VIT: 21_

_INT: 16_

_WIS: 9_

_LUK: 15_]

[_Stat Points: 0_

_Money: 0_]

[**Permanent Status Effects**]

[_Rubberman_]

[_Anchor_]

Satisfied with her now much higher stats, Lu went to sleep that night with a small smile on her face, contented - for now anyway - with how things were progressing.


End file.
